Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post

January 26, 2017

Ground cherries are awesome. I grew Aunt Molly's in 2015, as well as a kind from Burgess (but I planted that kind in the shade in tough soil and had crop failure). In 2016, I grew these:

* Aunt Molly's (again)
* Yellow Husk
* Ammon Martin's
* Chinese Lantern Gigantea (I didn't get any fruit)
* Cape Gooseberry (Giant)
* Goldie

First of all, I'll tell you about the size and taste. Ammon Martin's had the largest fruit. Goldie had the smallest. Goldie had the sweetest taste, followed by Ammon Martin's. Cape Gooseberry looked the coolest, and had the most unique, strongest taste. Yellow Husk had by far the least sweetness in taste.

Ammon Martin's was the most productive.

All the plants except Cape Gooseberry and Chinese Lantern Gigantea looked approximately the same.

Cape Gooseberry looked really awesome with big furry leaves (tall plants). It was very vigorous outdoors (but I tried starting it indoors in 2015, but it caught an indoor fungal disease or something; starting it in a greenhouse instead worked very well for me). The fruit looks nice. It's golden-colored with a nice skin texture, and it is opaque, unlike the other ground cherries, which were translucent and/or transparent to some degree.

Chinese Lantern Gigantea was the latest for me (I didn't get any fruit or flowers), but it is a perennial (so, hopefully it'll grow back in 2017).

The frost seemed to kill the foliage and branches of all the plants except for Cape Gooseberry, which survived until it got pretty cold.

Ground cherries seem to get a whole lot bigger (and seem to be more productive) in full sun in the ground than they do in a raised bed in partial shade.

Planting ground cherries early gives you a lot of benefits over planting them late, it seems. I recommend not procrastinating transplanting them at all.

Ground cherries seem to be prone to spider mites (while my tomatoes didn't have issues). However, those I've grown from saved seeds have resisted them better than ones directly from store-bought seeds. Cape Gooseberry didn't seem bothered with spider mites outdoors at all (but the one I started indoors that died from fungal issues may have been susceptible to indoor spider mites).

Ground cherries are more likely to fruit indoors than tomatoes, it seems.

Most of the ground cherry breeds I've tried usually taste something like a gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa). Ironically, the Cape Gooseberry didn't (it had an unusual taste that startled me). The other ground cherries do have variable tastes (one day, they might taste like one fruit, and another day another).

Ground cherries are often known for tasting like pineapple, strawberries, or perhaps other fruits. I can see this with some of them I've tasted, but usually they taste like gooseberries to me.

Ground cherries do tend to be pretty small. You need to wait until they fall off the plant to harvest them. However, I've found that there's no rush to pick them up. You can usually leave them there until a good amount of them accumulate if you want a larger amount of them at a time.

Most ground cherries are kind of round or oval-shaped. However, I had one that was a cone-shape (like a Christmas tree shape). I think some tomatillos have a gene for that shape, too (but it's not as obvious).

Most ground cherries people grow for food are pretty easy to start from seeds. I think Chinese Lantern Gigantea is harder, though (it was for me). Cape Gooseberry isn't quite as easy, but certainly doable.

Ground cherries seem to tolerate heat just fine (perhaps better than many tomatoes). However, you'll probably want to make sure the pH isn't too high and that there's some organic matter in the soil. I grew some in 2015 in ground with amendments that should have raised the pH a lot, with no added organic matter, and they struggled, got infested with spider mites, and remained small (although I did get fruit).

Oh, and just for the record, Ammon Martin's does not seem to be the same as the Clammy ground cherry. It looks a lot more like Aunt Molly's and Goldie than the Clammy ground cherry. The place I got Yellow Husk claimed it was the same species as the Cape Gooseberry—not the same breed—but it looks totally different (it looked much more like Aunt Molly's and Goldie than the Cape Gooseberry).

I plan to regrow all the breeds except maybe Yellow Husk in 2017. I plan to grow the Pineapple Tomatillo (which is really a ground cherry) and Otto's Brush Creek, in 2017, too.

I wonder if any of mine will have crossed with each other.

January 26, 2017	#8
shule1 Guest Posts: n/a	Ground cherries are awesome. I grew Aunt Molly's in 2015, as well as a kind from Burgess (but I planted that kind in the shade in tough soil and had crop failure). In 2016, I grew these: * Aunt Molly's (again) * Yellow Husk * Ammon Martin's * Chinese Lantern Gigantea (I didn't get any fruit) * Cape Gooseberry (Giant) * Goldie First of all, I'll tell you about the size and taste. Ammon Martin's had the largest fruit. Goldie had the smallest. Goldie had the sweetest taste, followed by Ammon Martin's. Cape Gooseberry looked the coolest, and had the most unique, strongest taste. Yellow Husk had by far the least sweetness in taste. Ammon Martin's was the most productive. All the plants except Cape Gooseberry and Chinese Lantern Gigantea looked approximately the same. Cape Gooseberry looked really awesome with big furry leaves (tall plants). It was very vigorous outdoors (but I tried starting it indoors in 2015, but it caught an indoor fungal disease or something; starting it in a greenhouse instead worked very well for me). The fruit looks nice. It's golden-colored with a nice skin texture, and it is opaque, unlike the other ground cherries, which were translucent and/or transparent to some degree. Chinese Lantern Gigantea was the latest for me (I didn't get any fruit or flowers), but it is a perennial (so, hopefully it'll grow back in 2017). The frost seemed to kill the foliage and branches of all the plants except for Cape Gooseberry, which survived until it got pretty cold. Ground cherries seem to get a whole lot bigger (and seem to be more productive) in full sun in the ground than they do in a raised bed in partial shade. Planting ground cherries early gives you a lot of benefits over planting them late, it seems. I recommend not procrastinating transplanting them at all. Ground cherries seem to be prone to spider mites (while my tomatoes didn't have issues). However, those I've grown from saved seeds have resisted them better than ones directly from store-bought seeds. Cape Gooseberry didn't seem bothered with spider mites outdoors at all (but the one I started indoors that died from fungal issues may have been susceptible to indoor spider mites). Ground cherries are more likely to fruit indoors than tomatoes, it seems. Most of the ground cherry breeds I've tried usually taste something like a gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa). Ironically, the Cape Gooseberry didn't (it had an unusual taste that startled me). The other ground cherries do have variable tastes (one day, they might taste like one fruit, and another day another). Ground cherries are often known for tasting like pineapple, strawberries, or perhaps other fruits. I can see this with some of them I've tasted, but usually they taste like gooseberries to me. Ground cherries do tend to be pretty small. You need to wait until they fall off the plant to harvest them. However, I've found that there's no rush to pick them up. You can usually leave them there until a good amount of them accumulate if you want a larger amount of them at a time. Most ground cherries are kind of round or oval-shaped. However, I had one that was a cone-shape (like a Christmas tree shape). I think some tomatillos have a gene for that shape, too (but it's not as obvious). Most ground cherries people grow for food are pretty easy to start from seeds. I think Chinese Lantern Gigantea is harder, though (it was for me). Cape Gooseberry isn't quite as easy, but certainly doable. Ground cherries seem to tolerate heat just fine (perhaps better than many tomatoes). However, you'll probably want to make sure the pH isn't too high and that there's some organic matter in the soil. I grew some in 2015 in ground with amendments that should have raised the pH a lot, with no added organic matter, and they struggled, got infested with spider mites, and remained small (although I did get fruit). Oh, and just for the record, Ammon Martin's does not seem to be the same as the Clammy ground cherry. It looks a lot more like Aunt Molly's and Goldie than the Clammy ground cherry. The place I got Yellow Husk claimed it was the same species as the Cape Gooseberry—not the same breed—but it looks totally different (it looked much more like Aunt Molly's and Goldie than the Cape Gooseberry). I plan to regrow all the breeds except maybe Yellow Husk in 2017. I plan to grow the Pineapple Tomatillo (which is really a ground cherry) and Otto's Brush Creek, in 2017, too. I wonder if any of mine will have crossed with each other. Last edited by shule1; January 26, 2017 at 02:45 AM.